MacTech Blog

According to new research from IDC (www.idc.com), the worldwide digital production color market continued its unabated growth of top-line shipment value in 2013.

The industry achieved record shipment values of US$4.4 billion in 2013, fueled by growth in a range of technologies, from mid-production cut sheet to ultra-high volume inkjet systems. The cumulative value of shipments is expected to approach $25 billion over the 2014-2018 forecast period, climbing from US$4.6 billion to $5.4 billion with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2%.

"Between 2014 and 2018, IDC expects to see the sum of all production color shipments to surpass 353,000," says Amy Machado, senior research assistant, IDC. "The high end of the market, albeit smaller from a unit perspective, is where the gold rush of pages is occurring with vendors vying for market dominance."

The worldwide pay-TV market continues to grow in the first quarter of 2014 (Q1 2014). According to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com), the total pay-TV subscriber base is expected to surpass 936.4 million at the end of 2014, generating US$280.4 billion in service revenue.

Although the global cable TV market grew in 2013, the North American cable TV market lost around 4% subscriber base in 2013. High subscription cost and other pay-TV alternatives are blamed for the declining subscriber base; however, cable TV operators experienced slower subscriber loss rate in the past two quarters. In Q1 2014, subscriber net loss of major cable operators in the United States was around 7k compared to over 200k subscriber loss in 4Q 2013.

"Innovative services such as Comcast’s cloud based X1 system which allows customers to store and watch TVshows on different devices has helped to reduce churn," says Jake Saunders...

A new International Data Corporation (IDC) study confirmed that cloud is the major disruption factor in the EMEA [Europe, the Middle East, and Africa] infrastructure hardware market, accounting for a growing portion of hardware spending and exerting influence on hardware architectures and vendors' strategies.

The overall investment in hardware for cloud environments in EMEA is expected to exceed US$4 billion in terms of user value by the end of 2014, with a strong 19% year-over-year growth, says the research group. 15% of the infrastructure spend in EMEA will be related to cloud environments in 2014, versus only 8% in 2011. This will grow to more than 22% by 2018, says IDC (www.idc.com). Further findings from the report include:

° IDC estimates that $3.4 billion was spent on hardware going to cloud environments in EMEA in 2013, up 21% compared with 2012. This led to an increase in the penetration of the overall...

A new report from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) forecasts a rapid uptake of 4G LTE mobile technology in the next five years, with active connections crossing the one billion mark in 2017 and reaching 1.8 billion by 2019. This will represent 22% of the global active mobile SIM connections by this time.

The report from the research group finds that, with the rate of LTE network commitments and roll-outs at an all-time high, network and device vendors have significantly improved their position to offer products and solutions to network operators. The GSA (Global Mobile Suppliers Association) confirmed that 168 manufacturers have announced 1,889 LTE-enabled user devices, including operator and frequency variants, along with 300 commercial network launches.

Juniper found that TD-LTE (Time Division LTE - using unpaired spectrum) will indeed play a major role in global deployment....

Gartner, Inc. (http://www.gartner.com) says that IT leaders have a significant opportunity to contribute to the business by creating a more flexible work environment that accommodates the needs of the business consumer.

Starting with the rise of PCs and the Internet era, users have a greater influence on IT strategy and we are currently witnessing the rise of what Gartner calls the "business consumer" — an employee for whom business activities are one part of a wider lifestyle," says Matthew Cain, research vice president at the research group.

"Individuals do not stop being consumers when they go to work," he adds. "Business consumers often make more consumer-like choices in their workplace computing tools and styles to increase efficiency."

Given the complexity of work environments and the geographic distribution of expertise across organizations, a critical competitive advantage will accrue...

Cable and over-the-top (OTT) providers are striking an unusual friendship, one that leads to profitability for both sides once some large challenges are hurdled, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Cable Industry Insider (www.heavyreading.com/cable), a subscription research service from Heavy Reading.

"Cable & OTT: New Opportunities for Convergence" explores the market drivers, opportunities for convergence and the challenges ahead. It includes profiles of 10 cable software suppliers that offer solutions that support cable's TV Everywhere and multi-screen initiatives, which also can lend support for cable-OTT integration.

"As OTT video streaming services and devices began to attract consumers, they appeared like barbarians at the gate, ready to disrupt traditional media and topple the longstanding empires of cable and other television establishments," notes Craig Leddy...

IK Multimedia has released version 2 of its VocaLive app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It adds a flexible new multitrack studio with digital audio workstation features.

Now singers, songwriters and musicians can benefit from advanced editing features like timeline audio editing, waveform visualization, touch-and-drag looping and more. VocaLive can be used with the IK Multimedia iRig line of microphones and mic interfaces, VocaLive provides an all-in-one solution - with superb sound quality, recording flexibility and ease-of-use - for the professional singer on the go.

The newest feature in VocaLive 2 is its Studio section. Designed to complement VocaLive's Recorder section, it allows for a full degree of editing and composing flexibility with recorded tracks. Musicians can see and manipulate their audio tracks (up to four on an iPhone and eight on an iPad) as waveforms on a timeline grid, just like on a computer digital audio workstation.

SDL has released the final report of the “Five Truths for Future Marketers” series titled “Channels are Irrelevant,” that features results from SDL’s global survey of more than 1,800 millennials (ages 18-36). The data reveals that today’s consumers no longer care about where they are or what device they are on when interacting with a brand, as 58% of millennials polled said they expect to engage with a company whenever they choose and via whichever channel they elect.

The data highlights the critical need for brands to stop focusing on channels and instead apply what they know about their consumers to elevate the overall experience in the buying journey. Millennials are the "always on" and connected generation, demanding consistent and seamless interaction with brands wherever they are and from any device they choose. According to the data, millennials touch their smartphones 43 times per day, and 30% admit they touch more than four devices over the course of 24 hours....

Shipments of second-generation LTE basebands, commonly called Cat4, enabling mobile users to enjoy up to 150 Mbps bandwidth, barely exceeded 42 million in 2013, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

However, key chipset suppliers are stretching their muscles for next-generation basebands that will enable speeds of up to 300 Mbps, namely Cat6 chips. New findings from the research group indicate that cumulative shipments of Cat6 chips targeting smartphones are expected to exceed 700 million by the end of 2019.

"Although a number of chipset suppliers have announced their Cat6 basebands, mobile operators are not yet launching commercial networks that will allow users to enjoy mobile broadband speeds exceeding 150Mbps. An exception to this is SK Telecom which recently launched an LTE-Advanced service, offering speeds up to 225 Mbps," says Malik Saadi, practice director at ABI Research.

As forward-thinking technology company Changing Technologies, Inc. (http://tinyurl.com/mcdmvoe) has examined new ways to commercialize the latest innovations, a recent news report suggests that 3D printing is set to become a game-changer in the multi-billion dollar headphone market.

While figurines, household items and even food are examples of smaller-scale items created by 3D printers for the consumer end user, ABC News reported last week that a New York-based company is now mass producing custom-fit earphones using advanced mobile and 3D-printing technologies. Simply using a phone app and a photo, the earphones are custom-made, have a price-floor under $200 and can be delivered in two days.

Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com) says in-vehicle advertising will affect the North American auto infotainment market.

There is an influx of connected vehicles in the United States. The success of mobile advertisements delivered through handheld devices is due, in large part, to social media, and the transition to the next largest audience (automotive) is promising, according to Research and Markets. The research group's study found:

° While mobile advertising has seen lucrative growth, Frost & Sullivan expects the industry to continue to grow, making in-vehicle advertising more attractive.

° Streaming services in vehicles do not have the same traction as mobile offerings, so in vehicle ads will almost make up for high-development costs to the service provider.

° Location-based services will be the leading method for ad delivery, but first marketers...

The nascent enterprise mobility space will see tremendous growth in new cloud based solutions as enterprises seek to mobilize quickly and easily, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).

No longer focused on mobile device management solutions, companies are seeking mobile application platforms deployed on-premise or in the cloud for the development and management of enterprise applications, the research group adds. The shift towards applications is based on necessity and scalability as enterprises are forced to deal with a growing number of devices and device platforms accessing enterprise content and systems.

"Mobile applications allow for greater flexibility when mobilizing content and employees," says ABI Research Senior Analyst Jason McNicol. "However, the cost in terms of time and resources is fairly expensive to generate a single app for multiple platforms like iOS,...

The research group predicts that 802.11n/ac with MU-MIMO will help propel the Wi-Fi market to 3 billion systems shipped in 2018, at the same time pushing the market for external RF power amplifiers for Wi-Fi up by more than 50% from 2013 sales, to the benefit of Skyworks, RFMD, TriQuint and other suppliers.

Based on a detailed analysis of Wi-Fi adoption and radio component architectures in 24 types of Wi-Fi systems, the report includes historical shipment estimates and specifications for the latest Wi-Fi radio SoCs and power amplifiers.

Worldwide IT spending is on pace to total $3.7 trillion in 2014, a 2.1% increase from last year; however, this grow rate is down from earlier projections of 3.2% growth, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. (http://www.gartner.com). The slower outlook for 2014 is attributed to a reduction in growth expectations for devices, data center systems and to some extent IT services, according to the research group.

"Price pressure based on increased competition, lack of product differentiation and the increased availability of viable alternative solutions has had a dampening effect on the short term IT spending outlook," says Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner. "However, 2015 through 2018 will see a return to ‘normal’ spending growth levels as pricing and purchasing styles reach a new equilibrium. IT is entering its third phase of development, moving from a focus on technology and...

Canalys (www.canalys.com) has announced its forecast for enterprise networking investment, which shows the ongoing shift in budgets from wired to wireless.

The total worldwide end-user value of router, switch and wireless LAN shipments is forecast to grow from US$29.9 billion in 2013 to $33.7 billion in 2018, according to the research group. Wireless LANs will remain the fastest growing segment, accounting for 18% of total value by the end of this period, up from 14%.

"Wireless LAN investment continues to be driven by enterprises moving more of their campus and branch office networking budgets from fixed to wireless to support increasingly mobile-centric user device access at the LAN edge," says Canalys Principal Analyst Matthew Ball.

The transition to 11ac continued to accelerate during the first quarter of 2014, following the start of customer adoption in Q3 2013. Just over 10% of access point...

Online shoppers want retailers to make it easier to purchase their goods and services, according to comScore (www.comscore.com), a company that "measures the digital world." Consumers also want websites and stores to work better together. For now, they also prefer to evaluate and purchase products from their desktops rather than their mobile devices, and when it comes to shipping and returns “free” is a driving factor to complete the sale.

Earlier this year, comScore asked 5,800 consumers about their online shopping experiences. Respondents said they want more options in searching for items, checking out, enhanced security and alternate delivery locations. While smartphones play a big role in the online experience, user interfaces have some catching up to do to win over consumers.

Online shoppers who use multiple devices said they would prefer to shop on a desktop computer over mobile because larger and...

This month's column will be short but not entirely sweet. Following much ado about something in the two columns filed here from WWDC, the Spy has less to say this month, but that is not to suggest it has been a slow time.

WWDC

Upon reflection, the Spy remains convinced that the Swift programming language is a major step forward in developer tools. The language has a slight air of being unfinished, as a few spots (the role of modules, for instance) need a little work. However, he believes developers will be using it and its descendants for a long, long time. Of the other announcements for developers, the Home and Health Kits probably represent the greatest opportunities for making new products, and expanding the Apple ecosystem. These will be very big. You heard it here first.

Hacked

Far too much of the Spy's time afterwards was taken up by fixing vandalism. Under another hat he...

A new report from Juniper Research (http://www.juniperresearch.com) finds that the annual transaction value of online, mobile and contactless payments will reach US$4.7 trillion by 2019, up from just over $2.5 trillion this year.

The report says that the largest net increase in spend would occur through remote physical goods purchases. However, while there was organic growth in the overall transaction levels due to increased purchasing on tablets and mobile, a significant proportion of tablet usage represented migration from desktop activity, according to Juniper Research. Combined transactions on mobile handsets and tablets will exceed those on desktops and laptops for the first time this year.

The report also notes that there's accelerating migration from physical format (DVD, CD) to digital (stream, download) across all core content sectors. These included a marked trend...

LifeLock (http://www.lifelock.com), provider of proactive identity theft protection services for consumers and fraud and risk solutions for enterprises. has announced newly commissioned research conducted by Forrester Consulting about consumer attitudes, behaviors, and exposures related to identity theft.

The February 2014 survey revealed that individuals who experience life milestones related to "new beginnings," including getting married, becoming new parents, buying a home or entering the dating scene, are more likely than the average population to become victims of identity theft.

"Life milestones in this day and age are often accompanied by significant sharing of personal data. Whether you’re getting married or buying a new home, you’re filling out many different forms both digitally and on paper – and you may have very little control over where your highly personal information goes," says...

Currently, MDM solutions comprise over 60% of enterprise mobility management solution users; however, by the end of 2019, MDM share will drop to a bit more than 30% and MAM will command the lion’s share at over 60%. Thanks to large growth in the Asia-Pacific region, MAM will supplant MDM as the preferred enterprise choice, notes the research group.

"MDM is a tool being reserved more for corporate-liable devices, while MAM is a mobility solution for the masses, or employee-owned devices associated with BYOD," says ABI Research Senior Analyst Jason McNicol. "For employees to embrace enterprise mobility initiatives and more importantly policies, more flexible yet secure solutions are...

Both glass-based and film-based sensors are evolving to improve performance, while at the same time becoming thinner and lighter, and increasing optical quality, according to new data from NPD DisplaySearch (www.displaysearch.com).

The research group forecasts that the total touch sensor area yield of projective capacitive, in-cell, on-cell, and resistive sensors, will reach 23.3 million square meters in 2015, up from 18 million square meters in 2014. Capacity for sensors for film substrates will be higher than for glass substrate, due to expected area growth of each type of film structure.

"Metal mesh, sliver nanowires, and other new materials will be used in the production of larger displays with better sheet resistance at affordable prices, and these new materials might be used for curved or flexible-touch sensors soon," says Shoko Oi, deputy director of touch panel and emerging display...

The LBS [location based services] market continues to grow strongly and with the arrival of always-on ubiquitous location, ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) believes that the market is ready to truly support location based advertising efforts.

In Western Markets, a third generation of location based services is now underway. It has forecast retail/shopping, ambient intelligence, hyperlocal social and personal asset tracking/BLE beacon applications to emerge as the next wave of important location based services over the next five years, with ABI Research forecasting a four-fold increase in revenues by 2019. In emerging regions the value of location is not lost with strong local deals/offers markets already emerging.

"In Asia, ABI Research sees LBS downloads breaking 4 Billion in 2019. In China, major Internet companies can see the necessity of location and are acquiring/integrating as they move to...

Worldwide PC monitor shipments totaled nearly 33.7 million units in the first quarter of 2014 (1Q14), a year-over-year decline of -0.4%, according to the IDC (www.idc.com) research group. IDC expects worldwide shipments to continue on their current trajectory, slipping to 106 million units for the full year 2018.

"Despite the overall decline, the shipment totals were stronger than the forecast of 31 million units," says Phuong Hang, program director, Worldwide Trackers at IDC. "Geographically, Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions delivered the largest gains during the first quarter while Dell and HP both experienced solid shipment growth."

LED backlight technology adoption continues to increase with a new high of 92% market share in 1Q14. This represents a year-over-year increase of 16.4%. Screen size of 21.x-inches wide has held the largest worldwide share for the last six quarters, with 20.5% share...

For the automotive industry the emergence of the IoT ("Internet of Things") constitutes a disruptive and transformative environment characterized by value chain and business model upheaval and a "collaborate or die" ecosystem friction reality prompting it to redefine and reinvent itself in order to capitalize on the huge opportunities in the new IoT economy, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

The absorption of the automotive industry in the wider IoT is driven by new connected car use cases such as EVs as a mobile grid and vehicles used as delivery locations, says the research group.

"As this IoT revolution unfolds, automotive innovation and value creation will be shifting to the boundaries with other verticals such as home automation, smart grids, smart cities, healthcare and retail,” says ABI Research vice president and practice director Dominique Bonte.

A new report from Juniper Research (http://www.juniperresearch.com) says that 2016 total revenues from mobile games will reach US$28.9 billion, a growth of over 38% on the 2014 figure of $20.9 billion.

The report found that with the domination of casual gamers playing free-to-play games, developers’ approach has shifted from bulk acquisition of unique players. Under the new strategy, which brings mobile analytics to the fore, developers are increasing lifetime value through analyzing, (re)engaging and monetizing users, allowing for higher overall returns on investment.

The Juniper report finds that tablet users will spend more on in-game purchases and generate more revenues per device than smartphone users. The research group argues that in turn, the enhanced performance and graphical capabilities of tablet games is resulting in accelerated migration from traditional portable gaming...

As the smartphone and tablet markets continue to explode, and bring your own device (BYOD) becomes more prevalent within the enterprise, mobile print subsystems are being integrated within mobile operating systems (OS). According to new research from IDC (www.idc.com), mobile OSs are increasingly geared toward the enterprise and this focus is driving demand for more robust print capabilities.

"Integration of print subsystem in mobile OS architecture vastly simplifies the print workflow and print experience for users," says Dinesh Srirangpatna, research manager, IDC. "The print landscape is experiencing dramatic change and the tighter integration of mobile print capabilities is a positive sign for the entire print industry."

With digital business blurring the line between the physical and the digital worlds, consumer-centric mobile apps are playing an important role, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com)

The research group predicts that, by 2015, most mobile apps will sync, collect and analyze deep data about users and their social graphs, but most IT leaders are failing to consider the deep impact that mobile apps have on their information infrastructure. Gartner also predicts that, by 2017, wearable devices will drive 50% of total app interactions. This includes desktop-based app interactions and mobile apps, with mobile apps making up the majority of these interactions.

"IT leaders should ensure they have infrastructure in place that takes into account data collected, not only via mobile apps, but also from apps running on wearable devices," says Roxane Edjlali, research director at Gartner.

Smart home automation controllers in the form of control panels, gateways and bridges are at the center of the smart home ecosystem delivering automation in single point and whole home solutions. Smart home automation controller shipments will witness strong growth driven by ongoing mass market interest, lower cost and an expanding supplier base, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

Home broadband service providers such as Comcast and AT&T seeking to expand beyond access and entertainment services are adding home automation connectivity and features to their gateways and routers. CPE suppliers are also getting into the game to replace slimmer margins from their traditional broadband access equipment sales. Cisco, Netgear, Belkin, Technicolor have been quick to deliver smart home automation solutions for service providers. Pushing both groups are new entrants such as smartThings, Revolv, and...

Increasing adoption of a more mobile, social, data-driven and consumer-like workplace is causing the breakdown of traditional security models and strategies, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com).

The research group predicts that by 2018, 25% of large organizations will have an explicit strategy to make their corporate computing environments similar to a consumer computing experience. Security organizations and leaders that fail to alter strategies to accommodate a more consumerized workforce will be sidelined by engaged organizations.

"Significant changes that impact an organization's approach to security are underway," says Tom Scholtz, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "Employee digital literacy has led to a growing consumerization movement within most enterprises, with employees using a wide variety of consumer-oriented apps for business purposes. Other workplace trends — such as out-tasking,...

While the interest and buzz around the Internet of Things (IoT) has grown steadily in recent years, the seemingly endless market promise continues to become reality.

According to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC), a transformation is underway that will see the worldwide market for IoT solutions grow from US$1.9 trillion in 2013 to $7.1 trillion in 2020. IDC (www.idc.coom) defines the Internet of Things as a network of networks of uniquely identifiable endpoints (or "things") that communicate without human interaction using IP connectivity – be it "locally" or globally.

Consumers continue to experience and embrace IoT in their homes, cars, and in many other aspects of their daily life. Globally, individuals are developing a high affinity for full-time connectivity, which makes consumer IoT a compelling proposition. Businesses are intrigued by the efficiencies, business process implications,...

Mobile phone Users with access to music bundled into their phone tariffs listen to music on their phones more actively than users without music bundles, according to the Strategy Analytics report "Listening to the Listeners: Mobile Music Survey Results" (http://sa-link.cc/zW).

The study – conducted across the US, China, France, Germany, Spain and the UK — revealed that 72% of mobile phone owners listen to music on their phone actively, or at least once a week, when music is bundled into their tariff compared to 46% for users without music bundled mobile plans.

"Mobile operators and handset manufacturers have a significant role to play in enabling the music industry to grow revenue through access to music that is bundled into customers' phone tariffs, or into the price of the phone," says Nitesh Patel, Director of Wireless Media Strategies, at Strategy Analytics. "Fast growing streaming digital music...

By the end of 2013, global LTE-related cellular subscriptions surpassed 230.9 million, 3.3% of mobile subs, and will continue to grow at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 36.6% between 2014 and 2019, to exceed two billion, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

The extensive presence of LTE networks is also stimulating the deployment of VoLTE. By the end of 2014, there are expected to be 59.6 million VoLTE subscriptions in place, and it is expected that nearly 56% of LTE-related cellular subscriptions will be using VoLTE services by the end of 2019.

"For VoLTE to be a success, there needs to be widespread adoption of the technology by handset vendors and not just the operators. There are some promising signs, though — it is anticipated that Apple will incorporate VoLTE into iPhone 6," says Marina Lu, research analyst at ABI Research.

Nearly 2.2 billion smartphones and tablets will be sold to end users in 2014 according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com) While security incidents originating from mobile devices are rare, the research group says that by 2017, 75% of mobile security breaches will be the result of mobile application misconfiguration.

"Mobile security breaches are — and will continue to be — the result of misconfiguration and misuse on an app level, rather than the outcome of deeply technical attacks on mobile devices," says Dionisio Zumerle, principal research analyst at Gartner. "A classic example of misconfiguration is the misuse of personal cloud services through apps residing on smartphones and tablets. When used to convey enterprise data, these apps lead to data leaks that the organization remains unaware of for the majority of devices."

With the number of smartphones and tablets on the increase, and a decrease in...

Parks Associates (www.ParksAssociates.com) has announced a new report that reveals U.S. small businesses (SMBs) with more than 10 employees spend on average more than US$3,000 per year on tech support. The research firm notes only 28% of these SMBs report having a support subscription but tech support spending among all SMBs will increase over the next several years as they adopt more devices and cloud services and deal with an increasingly virtual workforce.

"Small businesses are traditionally conservative with their tech support spending, but new technology products and services are increasingly complex and promise increased functional capabilities," says Patrice Samuels, research analyst,Parks Associates. "This year, SMBs will spend nearly $400 million for computer and network setup and installation services. Their need for support will continue to increase as new devices enter the workplace and...

Spending on video game hardware grew 47% to US$983 million during the first quarter of 2014, but overall total industry consumer spending on video gaming fell 1 percent to $4.6 billion compared to the same period in 2013, according the NPD research group (www.npd.com).

The dramatic increase in hardware sales can be attributed to the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and these strong year-over-year trends are likely to continue through most of 2014, according to NPD Analyst Liam Callahan. Overall content was down 8% due to a decline in new physical format spending of 27% or $372 million. In contrast to the physical declines, digital format spending collectively increased by 4%, driven by full game downloads and DLC for consoles and portables.

"For the first quarter of 2014, content spending increased for used games, digital full games, DLC, and mobile with a modest increase in subscription revenue." Callahan said. "This...

A new generation of smart-looking as well as connected smart home products is drawing a growing swathe of consumers into smart home device spending. Shipments of these devices will grow at a close to 30% CAGR [compound annual growth rate] between 2013 and 2019, however their impact will extend far beyond individual device sales, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

DIY is one of the stalwart segments of the smart home automation market. There have long been home automation enthusiasts with the technical ability and enthusiasm to build out home systems themselves; however, increasingly, devices like Nest’s Smart thermostats and Dropcam’s streaming video cameras are bringing simple-to-install, smart–home-DIY to a far wider audience.The popularity of these devices, that can be accessed and controlled by smartphone apps as well as the web, helps spawn wider evolution in the home automation market...

The worldwide continuous-feed, digital production print market is experiencing significant opportunity thanks to a major technology shift. According to new research from IDC (www.idc.com), the much anticipated shift from electrophotography (EP) to high-speed inkjet (HSIJ) came to fruition in 2013, and will continue through the 2014-2018 forecast period.

Placements of both monochrome and color EP equipment declined in the past year, while HSIJ installations continue on their growth path. IDC expects HSIJ to reach US$1 billion in equipment sales by 2018 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8%.

Not only was HSIJ the only growth technology segment in the continuous feed production print market, but for the closely watched high-volume segments of 150+ ipm monochrome and HSIJ, HSIJ became the overall market share leader, achieving 54% of the placements. While the cross over in placements occurred in 2013, HSIJ...

There are 34 million core gamers in the U.S. spending an average of 22 hours per week playing video games, according to Core Gaming 2014, the latest report from global information company, The NPD Group (www.npd.com).

These 34 million core gamers, defined for this report as those individuals who play video games five or more hours a week on a PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, or Mac, and who play Action, Adventure, Fighting, Flight, Massively Multi-Player, Racing, Real Time Strategy, Role-Playing, Shooter, or Sport genres on any of those devices.

"Core gamers are really the lifeblood of the industry, spending tremendous amounts of time on their hobby of choice," says analyst Liam Callahan. "With the new console generation off to a great start, we can expect the amount of time spent gaming to increase as more core gamers adopt them."

Queue theory is something every programmer needs to know--especially if attending WWDC. First we entered our names in a request queue. After a wait of some weeks, The Spy and 6000 other fortunate ones received an invite to purchase a ticket to WWDC for $1700.

That taken care of, it was time to request accommodation from the convention management folk. Wait more weeks and the task became getting there. Since his wife needed a diversion, he decided to drive, abandon her to her own devices in downtown San Francisco for the five days, then holiday up the California and Oregon coasts on the way home. The arrangements for six more hotels took about the same amount of time as finding churches for the two Lord's Days involved, and in the end the tabbed paperwork filled a small looseleaf binder.

The three day drive from Abbotsford to San Francisco provided more exercises in queues--around and through Seattle, near Portland, and the...

Despite the rise in the use of personal devices for business use, U.S. consumers are showing scant concern for security when it comes to bring your own device (BOYD). According to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com) a quarter of business users admitted to having had a security issue with their private device in 2013, but only 27%of those respondents felt obliged to report this to their employer.

The survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2013 with 995 full or part time workers in the U.S., all of whom use a private device for work purposes.
In a blog post, Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner, said that employee use of private mobile devices to access corporate information and services is exploding and with this trend comes a series of potential drawbacks.

"The threat of cyber attacks on mobile devices is increasing and can result in data loss, security breaches...

In light of the recent Heartbleed bug that left user credentials and sensitive information potentially susceptible to hackers and identity thieves, LifeLock (www.lifelock.com), a provider of identity theft protection services, has announced survey results that reveal consumers’ behavior and attitudes surrounding the security flaw.

The recent survey, conducted online April 28-30 by Harris Poll on behalf of LifeLock among over 2,000 U.S. adults who are online, demonstrated that, despite the potentially increased exposure due to Heartbleed, nearly half (47%) of consumers who have heard of Heartbleed had not taken measures to protect their personal information by changing online account passwords.

According to earlier LifeLock research conducted by Forrester, 70% of people believe they are using strong passwords. In the recent LifeLock study conducted by Harris Poll, less than half (42%) of those who use...

Worldwide Wi-Fi deployments reached a total of 4.2 million hotspots in 2013, and will continue to grow at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 15.0% between 2013 and 2018, to exceed 10.5 million, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

Among the global Wi-Fi hotspots, 68.6% of Wi-Fi is in Asia-Pacific, followed by 12.3% in Latin America, 9.0% in Europe, 8.7% in North America, and 1.4% in Middle East and Africa. The number includes Wi-Fi hotspots deployed by mobile and fixed-line carriers as well as third party operators.

"The mobile data growth has boosted the build-out of Wi-Fi hotspots, as it is expected that the global mobile data traffic will grow to 190,000 petabytes in 2018, from 23,000 petabytes in 2013," says Marina Lu, research analyst at ABI Research. "Wi-Fi helps to offload 3G/4G mobile Internet users to Wi-Fi networks, which is a more cost-effective method for both mobile...

Bluetooth shipments broke an annual two billion shipments in 2012 and are set to surpass three billion shipped during 2015 and four billion during 2018, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

"Cumulatively, over 19 billion chipsets will ship over the next five years," says research director Philip Solis. "Of various integration levels, standalone Bluetooth chipsets will be the largest group in 2019 followed by combo chipsets with Bluetooth and then integrated platforms with Bluetooth."

The market for Bluetooth chipsets has evolved greatly over the past decade, expanding from phones and headsets to a multitude of personal devices, accessories, and home automation devices. Of the 10 different combo chipset combinations ABI Research forecasts that include Bluetooth,

"Bluetooth + Wi-Fi + FM” chipsets will be the highest shipping combo type in 2014 as well as 2019. In 2014 this combo...

Good Technology (www.good.com), which specializes in mobile security, announced key findings from the "Q1 2014 Good Mobility Index Report." This quarter, as organizations declared security as a top IT concern in 2014, the data shows a monumental increase in activations of more complex secure enterprise apps, most notably secure browsing.

The data reported in this quarter's "Mobility Index Report" shows that the organizations across Good's diverse customer base are taking steps to mitigate security risks by leveraging secure mobile enterprise apps. Overall, secure enterprise app activations continued to see an impressive growth rate at 57% quarter over quarter, up from 54% and 43% growth from the last two quarters, respectively.

This is not surprising given recent data from the "2014 State of Endpoint Risk" report published by The Ponemon Institute, which highlights that within the IT environment, mobility...

The worldwide cable, DSL and fiber-optic fixed-line broadband subscriber base grew 6% in 2013 surpassing 665.4 million subscribers, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

The fiber-optic broadband segment grew at a robust rate, 29% from 2012 to 126.6 million subscribers in 2013. By 2019, fiber-optic broadband subscriptions will grow to 265 million subscribers, with a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 11.7%, according to the research group.

The global cable broadband market grew nearly 7% to 161 million subscribers while the DSL broadband market contracted around 1% to 378 million subscribers in 2013. An increasing number of customers opting for high-speed fiber-optic broadband service contributed to a decline in DSL broadband subscriptions in Asia-Pacific and North America.

"Global DSL broadband service revenue dropped nearly 2% in 2013, mainly due to a declining subscriber...

"High levels of end-user investment in digital marketing and customer experience initiatives were the primary growth drivers of the market in 2013," said Joanne Correia, research vice president at the research group. "CRM will be at the heart of digital initiatives in coming years. This is one technology area that will get funding because digital business is critical for companies to remain competitive."

Strong demand for software as a service (SaaS), which represented more than 4% of CRM total software revenue in 2013, was driven from organizations of all sizes seeking easier-to-deploy alternatives to replace legacy systems, implement net-new applications or provide alternative complementary functionality.

With over 2.6 billion chipsets expected to ship during 2014, Wi-Fi is currently the most ubiquitous wireless connectivity technology for Internet access. As the technology continues to adapt and expand with new protocols such as 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11ad (WiGig), and Wi-Fi Direct, nearly 18 billion more chips will ship cumulatively from 2015 to 2019, according to ABI Research (www.abirsearch.com).

"There will be a roughly even split in 2019 for Wi-Fi chipsets of different integration levels," says research director Philip Solis of ABI Research. "Standalone, or discrete, Wi-Fi chipsets — increasingly targeting the Internet of Things – will be the largest group, followed by integrated platforms with Wi-Fi targeting mobile devices, followed by Wi-Fi combo chipsets."

Wi-Fi protocols will continue evolving as well. By the end of the forecast period, dual-band 802.11n/802.11ac will comprise the vast...

The Canalys research group (www.canalys.com) has announced its forecasts for small business investment worldwide in content security, highlighting an expected compound annual growth rate of 7.8% between 2014 and 2017. The global market grew 5.0% in 2013, reaching US$2.4 billion in value. This represented 28% of all content security market spend during the year.

"In 2013, IT security became more important to small businesses, driving overall security budgets upwards,’ says Canalys Senior Analyst, Nushin Vaiani. "Small businesses are beginning to understand the need to demonstrate to customers that their information is being handled securely, especially in light of numerous data breaches and the NSA scandal."

Vendors have also concentrated more on providing tailored products to suit small businesses.

"These solutions focus on simple deployment, a combination of data protection features and ease of...

The MarketsandMarkets (www.marketsandmarkets.com) research group says that the cloud security market will be worth US$8.71 billion by 2019.

The increase in adoption of cloud computing, and growing demand for managed security services are playing a major role in shaping the future of cloud-based security services market. Even though there are various on-premise solutions available for all types of security, cloud security has become the prime importance for business who want to reduce CAPEX and support growing number of remote work force, according to MarketsandMarkets.

Cloud vendors provide better security solutions and are compatible with the complex cloud processing. It also enables the companies to become cost-efficient, scalable and increase the business agility. The biggest players in this market which contribute to the major market share are CA Technologies, IBM, Symantec,...

The global pay-TV subscriber base increased over 5% in 2013, raising the total to 901.1 million, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). However the average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped slightly to $23.80 in 2013 from $24.10 in 2012, according to the research group

"In general, the pay-TV market grew both in terms of subscribers and service revenue across all pay-TV platforms. Overall pay-TV service revenue reached almost $250 billion in 2013," says Jake Saunders, vice president and practice director of core forecasting, ABI Research.

Pay-TV ARPU in North America increased around 4% to $76.00 in 2013. According to major pay-TV operators in North America, the growth in ARPU is due to a growth in the proportion of customers with advanced pay-TV set-top boxes and upgraded High Definition programming packages. Unfavorable currency exchange rates in Latin American countries have contributed to...

PCalc is a full-featured, scriptable scientific calculator with support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations, as well as an RPN mode, programmable functions, and an extensive set of unit... Read more

FileZilla 3.10.2 - Fast and reliable FTP...

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Bartender 1.2.32 - Organize your menu ba...

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ClamXav 2.7.5 - Free virus checker, base...

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At this point it’s pretty safe to say that no MOBA is going to dethrone Dota 2 and League of Legends anytime soon. After all, if Batman can’t do it, nobody can. However, with a genre as popular and profitable as this one, there’s still room for... | Read more »

Final February Fun at 148Apps
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GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitel...

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We were teased about Mediocre Games’ (Smash Hit,
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F84 Games & POW! Announce Stan Lee V...

F84 Games has announced that it is working with legendary comic creator Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to produce Stan Lee’s Hero Command. The game will be a action adventure of heroic proportions.
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Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You C...

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You Can Focus On Rocking Out.
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
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Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vas...

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vast New Update!
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Size DOES Matter Review

Size DOES Matter Review
By Campbell Bird on March 2nd, 2015
Our Rating: :: HARD TO BEATUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
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The first ever action 3D card battler Al...

On the other hand, you probably haven’t played an action 3D card battler – until now. Step forward, All Star Legion.
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Travel Back to the 1980s With the Making...

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Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Another Tranche Of IBM MobileFirst For iOS Ap...

IBM has announced the next expansion phase for its IBM MobileFirst for iOS portfolio, with a troika of new apps to address key priorities for the Banking and Financial Services, Airline and Retail... Read more

Sale! 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros for up to $...

B&H Photo has the new 2014 15″ Retina MacBook Pros on sale for up to $250 off MSRP for a limited time. Shipping is free, and B&H charges NY sales tax only:
- 15″ 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro: $... Read more

WaterField Designs Introduces the Minimalist...

With Apple Pay gaining popularity, Android Pay coming in May 2015, and loyalty cards and receipts that can be accessed from smartphones, San Francisco’s WaterField Designs observes that it may be... Read more

Sale! 15-inch 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro for $...

Best Buy has the 15″ 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro on sale for $1774.99 $1799.99, or $225 off MSRP. Choose free home shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Price valid for online orders... Read more

13-inch 2.5GHz MacBook Pro (refurbished) avai...

The Apple Store has Apple Certified Refurbished 13″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pros available for $170 off the cost of new models. Apple’s one-year warranty is standard, and shipping is free:
- 13″ 2.5GHz... Read more

13-inch 2.5GHz MacBook Pro on sale for $100 o...

B&H Photo has the 13″ 2.5GHz MacBook Pro on sale for $999.99 including free shipping plus NY sales tax only. Their price is $100 off MSRP.
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27-inch 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on...

B&H Photo has the 27″ 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on sale for $2299 including free shipping plus NY sales tax only. Their price is $200 off MSRP, and it’s the lowest price available for... Read more

Apple Launches Free Web-Based Pages and Other...

Apple’s new Web-only access to iWork productivity apps is a free level of iCloud service available to anyone, including people who don’t own or use Apple devices. The service includes access to Apple... Read more

Survey Reveals Solid State Disk (SSD) Technol...

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Save up to $600 with Apple refurbished Mac Pr...

The Apple Store is offering Apple Certified Refurbished Mac Pros for up to $600 off the cost of new models. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each Mac Pro, and shipping is free. The... Read more

Jobs Board

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**Job Summary** Apple Professional Services (APS) has an opening for a senior technical position that contributes to Apple 's efforts for strategic and transactional
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Event Director, *Apple* Retail Marketing -...

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